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Crafty Weekend continues

This weekend, I finally finished my necklace holder. Okay, maybe not totally. I still haven’t painted the masonite.. but here is how it looks so far:

Necklace Holder

It’s simple to make, and inexpensive. I had an old, wood frame that I was going to throw out until I stumbled upon how to make this. All you need is a sturdy frame, masonite that will fit into the frame, and some wooden button pegs. The project I found said to use pegboard instead of masonite, but I didn’t trust putting hooks into the pegboard holes, so I opted for masonite. Masonite is just a pegboard without all the little holes predrilled in it.

Simply cut out the masonite (or have your hardware store do it). I used a hi-temp hot glue gun and glued the button pegs onto the masonite. I made sure to offset the button pegs so that I could hang necklaces and bracelets without them getting tangled. That is, afterall, the whole point. I also put some button pegs on the frame itself so I would have more room to hang things. Then, I put the masonite in the frame, and viola! Time to hang things. I hope to paint the masonite after I figure out what kind of picture I want on it. I think it would be better to paint the picture with the button pegs already on it so they don’t cover up portions of the picture.

Framed Necklace Holder

Even unpainted, the holder looks fabulous above my dresser. And I no longer have to struggle with twisted and knotted necklaces in my jewelry box. Yay! Plus, it’s a real space saver because it’s only taking up as much space on the wall as the frame. Bonus!

Along with finishing up my necklace holder (and working on some more Autumn wreaths), I have been cleaning the place up a bit. This required getting rid of the potted plants on the porch that were drowned in our last hard rain. I threw out the withered stems of three out of four pots but, lo and behold! The final pot was blooming. Blooming I tell you! The Fuschia plant is doing marvelously and was moved from a corner in the porch, to the shepard’s crook where I could show it off to passersby.

Potted Fuschia

Not to be confused with a bleeding heart, this vining flowering plant has done well all summer long. I hope we are able to keep it going strong when Winter comes and we must move it indoors with our Philodendrons.

Of course, all of this crafting and cleaning made me hungry. And not just any hungry, chocolate hungry. I did a quick online search (aka Google) for “chocolate brownie recipe” and found a decent one from Alton Brown. Alton Brown’s Cocoa Brownie Recipe is to die for.

Brownies from Heaven

I really enjoy Alton’s cooking show so I knew I could trust this recipe. It does take a lot of eggs, but that is because it is so dense.. and yummy. Be warned, however, that it is truly a cocoa brownie. It calls for 1 and a quarter cups of cocoa. I had to put frosting on mine because they were so darn chocolatey.. mmm. Oh, I was also out of vanilla extract. Everything I searched for a nice substitute said to use Maple Syrup, teaspoon for teaspoon. But I didn’t have any of that either! What is a woman to do? Oh why, hello there bottle of Rum.. sitting in the corner of the kitchen all innocent. I know just what to do with you. Let me say that the brownies taste just as they would with vanilla extract, but the batter was to die for. *evil laugh*